“A German Requiem” by Kent Nagano  ^2025-2026

Kent Nagano is considered one of today’s outstanding conductors for both operatic and orchestral repertoire. He will be the next Chief conductor and Artistic Director of the Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España (OCNE) in Madrid starting in September 2026 and is the newly appointed Principal Artistic Partner of Filarmonica Toscanini. In addition, he is committed together with Jan Vogler as Artistic Director of the Ring project “The Wagner Cycles” of Dresdner Musikfestspiele with Dresdner Festspielorchester and Concerto Köln alongside Jan Vogler. He has been Honorary Conductor of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin since 2006, Concerto Köln since 2019, the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal since 2021 and the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg since 2023 and is as patron of the Herrenchiemsee Festival.

As a much sought-after guest conductor, Kent Nagano regularly works with leading international orchestras worldwide, 2025/26 season highlights include several projects with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, Maggio Musicale, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, Opera de Paris, and the Philharmonia Orchestra, amongst others.

Johannes Kammler is one of the most sought-after baritones of his generation. With remarkable stylistic versatility, he captivates audiences on international opera, concert, and recital stages – from Canada and Europe to Korea.

Since 2018, he has been a member of the ensemble at the Staatsoper Stuttgart, where he performs leading roles such as Malatesta / Don Pasquale, Conte / Le nozze di Figaro, Papageno / Die Zauberflöte, Marcello / La Bohème, Guglielmo / Così fan tutte, and Oreste / Iphigénie en Tauride. He was previously a member of the ensemble at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich.

Upcoming highlights include his Wagner debuts as Gunther / Götterdämmerung, as well as Don Giovanni and Dandini / La Cenerentola at the Staatsoper Stuttgart. Further engagements include Brahms’ Requiem in Montreal, and several recitals, including in Liechtenstein. He regularly sings Oratorios by Bach, Mendelssohn, or Händel, with conductors such as Herreweghe, Nagano, Dudamel, Petrenko, and Young, among others.

Born in Augsburg, Johannes Kammler received his first musical training with the Augsburg Cathedral Boys’ Choir. He studied voice in Freiburg, Toronto, and at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London. He is a prizewinner of the international competitions Neue Stimmen and Operalia.

Irish Mezzo-Soprano Paula Murrihy enjoys a busy career working at the highest level in both Europe and the US. Previously a member of Oper Frankfurt’s acclaimed ensemble, her many roles in Frankfurt include Dido in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Octavian in Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier, creating the role of Carmen in Barrie Kosky’s iconic production of Bizet’s opera, and most recently Dejanira in Handel’s Hercules.

Murrihy opened her 2025/26 season at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona as Fox in Barrie Kosky’s production of Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen. Other opera highlights of the season include the roles of Ariane in Dukas’s Ariane et Barbe-Bleu at the Teatro Real, Madrid and Euryale in the world premiere of a newly commissioned opera Medusa at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, Brussels, composed by Iain Bell and directed by the opera’s librettist Lydia Steier. This season’s concert highlights include Goffredo in Handel’s Rinaldo with The English Concert and Harry Bicket in London and on tour to China and South Korea, La Vierge Marie in Berlioz’s L’Enfance du Christ with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra conducted by Maxim Emelyanychev, and Handel’s Messiah with the Boston Baroque and Filippo Ciabatti.

Jean-Willy Kunz is the organist-in-residence of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal. A member of the OSM since 2013, he studied at the Conservatoires de musique in Grenoble, Lyon, and Montreal, as well as at McGill University. In 2011, he was awarded the Richard Bradshaw Audience Prize at the Canadian International Organ Competition. He has performed as a soloist with the Orchestre symphonique de Québec, Les Violons du Roy, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, and the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, and has premiered numerous works by notable composers. 

In addition to his orchestral career, Jean-Willy is also an organ professor at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal and serves as Artistic Director of the Canadian International Organ Competition. 

Alexander is one of the most experienced concert masters in Europe. He started at an early age at Camerata Salzburg where he both conducted and performed. Since then he has appeared as a guest conductor with all the notable chamber orchestras in Europe. With the Chamber Orchestra of Europe he toured extensively throughout Europe and the Far East, built close musical collaborations with other leading artists such as Mitsuko Uchida, and conducted the COE, with great success, in a disc of Stravinsky’s Apollon Musagète and Pulcinella Suite. In 2011, Alexander was appointed Associate Artist with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Today he is concertmaster of the Dresden Festival Orchestra, which plays romantic instruments, and, in addition to invitations from guest concertmasters of the Orchester des Champs Elysées, he regularly collaborates with the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century. Alexander Janiczek teaches violin at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. He plays the ex-“Sorkin” Giuseppe Guarneri, del Gesù, Cremona 1731, who was loaned to him by the National Bank of Austria.

Andrew Megill is recognized as one of the leading choral conductors of his generation, known for his unusually wide-ranging repertoire, extending from early music to newly composed works. He has prepared choruses for the American Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Dresden Philharmonic, the National Symphony, and the New York Philharmonic, and he has worked with conductors such as Pierre Boulez, Charles Dutoit, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Jane Glover, Kurt Masur, Zubin Mehta, and Kent Nagano. He is Director of Choral Organizations Activities at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and serves as Artistic Advisor and Director of Choral Activities for the Carmel Bach Festival and Choral Director for Music of the Baroque (Chicago). He previously taught at the University of Illinois and Westminster Choir College and has been a Guest Conductor for the Yale Institute of Sacred Music. Broadcast by Public Radio International and the BBC, his work can be heard on numerous recordings, including Magnussen’s Psalm (Albany Records), Haydn’s Masses (Naxos), and works by Caleb Burhans (Cantaloupe).